SAN MATEO — Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper confirmed Wednesday he submitted the winning bid in a government auction of nearly 30,000 bitcoins, saying the acquisition was part of a long-term global investment strategy to spread the virtual currency to developing markets.

Draper will team with Palo Alto startup Vaurum to inject the bitcoins into exchanges in places like South America, Africa, India and parts of Asia. Since bitcoin isn’t controlled by any particular government, the free-spirited investor said, it is attractive to businesses and entrepreneurs in developing economies who contend with political instability and weak currencies.

“Humans out there are subject to political whims,” said Draper, known for unconventional ideas such as splitting California into six states, “and their whole lives can be overturned.”

Speaking at his eponymous entrepreneurial school in San Mateo, Draper declined to say how much he paid for the 29,565.5 bitcoins auctioned Friday by the U.S. Marshals Service, aside from joking, “I paid more than the other people in the auction.” The market value of the bitcoins was nearly $19 million Wednesday, up from roughly $17 million Friday.

The founder of Menlo Park firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson has emerged in recent years as a bitcoin proselytizer along with his son Adam, who runs an incubator, Boost, that focuses on the digital currency. Both Drapers have invested in Vaurum, which is also backed by former AOL Chairman Steve Case.

Draper claimed the government’s decision to auction the digital currency rather than destroy it was a “vote of confidence” in bitcoin, which the IRS regards as taxable property. Vaurum CEO Avish Bhama said the auction bolstered the idea that bitcoins are a legitimate asset.

“When the government confiscates cocaine, they don’t just auction it off,” said Bhama, whose 10-person company operates bitcoin exchanges in the United States, Canada and India and plans to roll them out in Brazil, Europe and Argentina. “It kind of puts a stamp of approval on it, by saying, ‘Yeah, this is something real.’ “

The cocaine analogy is fitting given the source of Draper’s new bitcoins. Federal investigators seized them from Silk Road, an online marketplace that allegedly facilitated illegal drug transactions.

Mark Schwanhausser, a director at Javelin Strategy & Research, said he doubts the bitcoin auction indicates the government is warming up to bitcoin as a legitimate currency.

“It doesn’t mean the government is any less worried about protections that need to be put in place and the ramifications of virtual currencies being misused,” said Schwanhausser, adding that Draper’s big investment could be intended in part as “Dramamine” for those embarking on the unpredictable seas of virtual currency.

“Bitcoin is really volatile,” he said, “and if you want normal people buying and trading and investing in it, you need to steady the ride.”

Bhama said the Draper-Vaurum team is still working out its plan for the bitcoins, but the general idea is to provide liquidity for new markets. When Draper sells some bitcoins in a developing market, Bhama said, he may buy others in another market to maintain his overall supply.

“The end goal is we want to put these bitcoins to good use,” he said. “And we have a very long-term strategy to do this. We aren’t going to be dumping these on an open market.”

WASHINGTON – Hillary Clinton challenged Congress on Thursday to combat fake and misleading news on social media, using a post-election appearance to tackle an issue that gripped her presidential campaign and culminated with a shooting incident Sunday in Northwest Washington.